Mele Kalikimaka!

My husband’s birthday is in the month of December and since he’s a surfer boy (which is a tad challenging seeing as we live in the desert!), I thought I would add a bit of a tropical Christmas theme to the festivities! Since this month has been extremely hectic and jam-packed, we decided to go for a celebratory dinner and return home for the most important part: dessert!

I focused on tropical, Hawaiian-inspired decor by pairing traditional Christmas colors of red and green and some yellows/golds for a pop, along with neutrals to reflect the sand and natural elements. I utilized burlap fabric as a table covering, along with a strip in the center of the background that not only added some texture, but also hid a cabinet in our dining area!

Following along with the melding of island life with the holidays, I took the traditional gingerbread house and converted it into a surf shack! To save time, I purchased an already baked house and added fondant decorations, such as a palm tree with a string of lights. When I was browsing through the “dollar” aisles at Target, I found some accessories to decorate your own snowman, so placed it on some white cotton candy to show it melting in the hot, tropical sun!

The adorable “Mele Kalikimaka” Santa tags came from Starynight that so graciously offers free graphic downloads for digital scrapbooking. The little ornament holders came from Michaels, which I found at 50% off in the dollar section. Love great finds AND deals!!!

The fondant cupcake toppers included Santa making “sand angels and Rudolph wearing a lei, among other tropical and holiday designs. They topped chocolate “lava” cupcakes and were displayed in wooden bowls with brown sugar to resemble sand.

Some other treats offered were pineapple cakes topped with fondant gingerbread men and women, decked out in their bathing suits and laying out and catching some rays on their fondant towels. We also had rice marshmallow treats serving as a stage for the hula dancing penguins, along with fondant surfboards and flowers!

Accents on the table included the centerpiece arrangement with traditional palm leaves and red birds of paradise embellished with glittery red and gold bulbs. I also purchased some empty glass ornaments, which I filled with sand and seashells (leftover from the mermaid lagoon station from my daughter’s Finding Neverland party earlier this year ~ I love it when I can re-use supplies!). I had also seen a commercial on t.v.by Big Lots for these hilarious guitar-shaped Elvis containers filled with popcorn that I just had to have! My sister-in-law had given us some cute Tommy Bahama pilsner glasses and I filled them with small ornaments, topped off with a pineapple ornament. Additionally, I used some items I already had as decor, such as beach bags and the perfect starfish ornament painted as Santa that usually adorns our Christmas tree!

As favors, we gave away Egg Nog in a Bag from Cost Plus World Market that, as the bag reads, you can simply “shake, freeze and squeeze”! Also from the Target dollar bins were some liqueur-infused chocolate boxes.

I had so much fun with this theme that was so fitting for both my husband and the holidays! We, of course, listened to Bing Crosby’s classic “Mele Kalikimaka” song since it’s “Hawaii’s way to say Merry Christmas to you”!!!